mjl@ritcv.UUCP (Mike Lutz) (08/11/83)
I just received a note from Robert Wells (ucbvax!rwells) saying that a manual
on the PRO/350 hardware exists, namely
"The Professional (tm) 300 Series Technical Manual,"
available from the Educational Services Dept., DEC, Maynard, MA 01754. In a
(weak) defense of my previous article, let me state that local sales personnel
and technical specialists from DEC headquarters were emphatic that such docu-
mentation would NOT be be generally available, and that the internals of the
PRO series were company confidential and proprietary. They were saying this
right up until last December, when I eased out of the RIT end of things.
Later discussions with remaining members of our committee led me to believe
that DEC had not changed their attitude.
Since I do not have the manual, and Robert did not expand much on what it con-
tains, I still do not know whether or not there is sufficient information to
support the development of a second source peripherals market. From what I've
seen of the micro marketplace, this is critical to the success of any new sys-
tem. (Unless "success" is defined as a much lower level of sales than would
be tolerated by, say, IBM and Apple.)
Robert also said it's his opinion that DEC wants to supply third party
software, but only after doing rigorous testing. Though no doubt this will
lead to excellent software, it is preventing the emergence of ANY software
right now; this cannot be helping DEC's sales. I happen to think IBM's ap-
proach will be much more successful than DEC's, but only time will tell.
Mike Lutz {allegra,seismo}!rochester!ritcv!mjl